The State police have been put on high alert after an intelligence input warned of possible attempts by religious fundamentalists to thwart peace and communal harmony on the eve of the bhoomi poojan for the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya on August 5.
While preparations are on for the mega event in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior political party leaders are expected to participate, ‘holy’ water and construction materials for the construction of the temple are being sent from across the country to Ayodhya. In Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha performed special prayers at Rameswaram and sent the ‘holy’ water and sand to Ayodhya by flight on Sunday.
According to police sources, intelligence agencies had sent an alert that some religious fundamentalists had planned to destabilise peace in a bid to convey their displeasure with the Centre’s decision to go ahead with the event, coinciding with the first anniversary of the revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
A section of the society was averse to the construction of the temple and would attempt to disrupt the smooth and successful celebration of the ceremony.
Besides, the issue pertaining to the comments made by ‘Karuppar Kootam’ degrading ‘Kantha Shasti Kavacham’ made the situation even tense. Some Hindu outfits had planned to draw ‘kolam’ of the deity Murugan’s trident the ‘vel’ in front of their houses while activists of the ‘Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam’ had decided to paint some other art to counter the same.
Sleuths deployed
Amid these threats to internal security, senior police officials across the State were told to intensify vigil at vital installations and places of worship. Sleuths of different intelligence agencies were deployed to mount vigil on suspects involved in communal violence in the past.
Police and other law-enforcing agencies were told to intensify vehicle checks at district/State border checkposts and thoroughly verify e-pass used by people to travel. Special teams of the cyber crime unit were deployed to keep a close watch on posts in social media platforms and take action on communally sensitive messages/photos/videos that could trigger hate between groups of people, the sources added.
